Good News!

Today Blake had his follow up appointment with the doctor and his labs look good!!! :O) The doctor said that his levels look good and that he does not need to do anymore Retuxin treatments! He is just going to monitor him for the time being. PRAISE THE LORD!!!

This is such a huge answer to prayer. Thank you so much for all your prayers and support. Continue to pray that his levels will remain stable and that it will just be fine from here on out.

Today's Doctor Appointment...
Well, there is not too much to report after today's doctor appointment. Blake's creatinine is still around a 2 and his protein has gone down. The doctor has decided that he wants to monitor Blake for 2 weeks and they will go from there. So, now we just wait.

I will keep you posted. Please pray that his protein levels continue to drop, and pray that his creatinine will even out after his body has calmed down from the Retuxin treatment.

Update...
I just got off the phone with my mom and they are heading home from the hospital. Blake had his biopsy and everything went well. The results came back showing that there were not any rejection cells. Praise the Lord!

The reason the doctor wanted to do the biopsy was because his labs showed that his creatinine had gone up to a 2.?something. This is not dangerously high but it is higher than it has been so they just needed to be sure he wasn't rejecting. His protein however has come down!!! YEAH! So the doctor seems to think that the Retuxin is working, and that the reason his creatinine levels were higher was due to the trama of the treatment. Blake goes back to the doctor for more labs on Wednesday and they will go from there.

You could be praying that the insurance will okay more Retuxin treatments. The doctor requested 6 treatments and the insurance only okayed 2!!! SO rediculous! Also, continue to pray that his levels will come down.

Thank you team Blake!!! You are all so awesome!

Please Pray...
I don't have much information at the moment but I wanted to ask all of you to pray. Blake went in today to see the doctor and possibly have one more Retuxin treatment and instead they decided to do a biopsy. So, Blake is actually having a biopsy right now! I am assuming that the reason for this is because his labs were not what they should be. I will hopefully know more soon.

Please pray that the doctors will be able to figure something out through doing the biopsy. Pray for wisdom for the doctors and peace and patience for my brother and my parents. I know that they are very discouraged at the moment.

I will let you know as soon as I hear anything.

Here is the latest...
I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to update the blog. I was waiting until I had some good information to post and then I got side tracked.

Blake started his Retuxin treatments. He has done 2 treatments now and will see the doctor again tomorrow. They will decide what the next course of action is depending on his lab results.

So far the treatments have gone relatively smoothly. He had a pretty bad reaction at his first treatment (watery eyes, aches, runny nose) but Tylenol and Benadryl took care of it and his second treatment was much better.

Please pray that his lab results show some change. Pray that these treatments work!!!

Thank you again for all of your support and prayers.

Update...

The insurance has approved Blake's Retuxin treatments. YEAH!!! I am not sure when they are going to start the treatments. I think the doctor is still waiting for some "official" paperwork to come from the insurance company.

Pray that this treatment will work. It is the last thing the doctors can think to try.

UPDATE... PLEASE PRAY...
It has been a while since I have had any real news to report, I figured no news was good news, however that doesn't seem to be the case. Blake had a doctors appointment on Friday and his doctor told him that the plasma pheresis is not working. The doctor is really discouraged because it is not common for the pheresis to not work. In almost all cases it does. He said that in some cases they have to leave the patient on pheresis for 6 months, but it still works. The difference with Blake is that his levels are not changing at all. His proteins continue to stay high, and they would have liked to see some change by now.

At this time they have decided to finish the rest of his treatment for the week and then stop treatment. He meets with the doctor again on Friday to discuss what to do next. Basically the doctor has told my brother that there is one more treatment they can try to put the FSGS into remission. It is a drug actually used for lymphoma patients and is a form of chemo. The drug is called Rituxan. It is used as a last resort because of its harshness and side effects (his side effects would not be exactly the same as a cancer patient; it would not be as bad, however not fun to say the least), but in other patients it has proven to be successful in conquering FSGS. The other catch is that this treatment is really expensive, so the doctor is going to really have to push the insurance company to cover it. So please pray that the this will go through without too much hassle.

That is all the information I have at the moment. Please be praying for the doctors wisdom and direction during this process. Pray for peace and patience for my brother and my family.

I will update you as soon as I know anything on Friday.

Oh, I wanted to add that my parents have also spoken with Blake's old doctors at USC Medical just to see what they thought and if they had any new ideas on treatments. They were basically saying that they would be doing the same treatments, so at least we have confidence that we have exhausted every outlet. Blake is dealing with some of the best doctors in the nation and his primary doctor is considered to be one of the top nephrologists in the world. At least we know he is in good hands.